Atheists

"The amount I have learned till B.A, I believe in three years time i can put inside little children's mind better, reciting stories..."

"That we usually call Education is making man stupid."

"The thing which identifies is called eyes,understands is called brain, listens is called ear and feels is heart. To be devoid of these four things is the signs of being a beast."

"On the issue of depth, difficulty doesn't imply depth. Difficulty doesn't mean Art, incomprehensibility doesn't have any value."

"I call education that, which makes man a complete human, which teaches to utilize time...manufactures belief..."

"Among various games of man created to engage his mind, gambling is the most interesting and which comes the nearest to life's gain-loss, rise-fall."

"All dharmas hide inside the mother's heart. To receive is dhamra."

"As long as we aspire to become great in this world or keep feelings to do things and show our pride, Bairagya is impossible."

"I want to bow my head as if the all pervading God is scolding me. I know that i am a sinner."

"Truth shines through feelings..But in the heart there is the brightness of God. I assume feelings or emotions as primary, desiring and thinking come later."

"There is fun in being small; we can see other's importance dancing around. There is pleasure in the peacefulness of ego; we can see other's charade."

"I want to see what is there in the heart! Natural curiosity!"

"Civilization has not yet started. We haven't learned to respect life. After our brotherhood feeling becomes rigid then only will real progress start."

"Today, our developed nations live in opulence, excess and waste, with the consequences that our environment is degrading and the climate is wreaked."

"Reasonably, all these [fossil fuel] investments are financial dead-ends or ecological disasters."

"To control global warming, only one solution: stop burning fossil fuels."

"[...] knowledge is our greatest wealth and the love of others the most beautiful human value."

"[Nobunagas] place in Japanese history might be likened to the places of Thomas Cromwell in English history and Giuseppe Garibaldi in Italian history. Thomas Cromwell… was responsible for bringing about the surrender of the great religious houses to such a degree that by 1540 the monastic institutions had ceased to exist and their properties had been vested in the Crown. Cromwell eradicated the independence of the clergy and brought about their total submission to the king. It might be noted that Nobunaga left the temples in Japan with far more possessions than Cromwell left to the church in England. Giuseppe Garibaldi… brought the Papal States … under the hegemony of the central government and out from under the authority of the pope. Through the 1860s the newly unified Italian state repressed religious houses, confiscated and sold ecclesiastical properties, and seized Rome itself in 1870. Admittedly, Garibaldi's methods for attaining his end were much less violent than those employed by Nobunaga; but Garibaldi and Nobunaga lived in different countries and in different ages, and the military power of the Buddhist temples in sixteenth-century Japan was far greater than that of the Catholic church in nineteenth-century Italy… Both Cromwell and Garibaldi effected changes with respect to the religious institutions in their countries that were similar to those that Nobunaga brought about in Japan, and it is in the company of such people that Nobunaga must be ranked and judged."

"If you find me more offensive than the fucking possibility , then listen to me, motherfucker, this here is a fact: You are just as morally misguided as that Motherfucking power-hungry self-aggrandized bigot in the stupid fucking hat."

"By definition, (I begin), alternative medicine (I continue) has either not been proved to work, or has been proved not to work. You know what they call alternative medicine that has been proved to work? Medicine."

"A genius is just a mentally ill person with an audience."

"He's never really been part of the scene Give him Guns N' Roses, he'll take Queen He's more into Beatles than the Stones, He's more Stevie Wonder than Ramones"

"There's a moment in one scene of the new film where tears almost appear in his eye. These are crocodile tears, but for all those in the movie, and perhaps watching the movie itself, they'll see he is apparently moved -- and of course, he is. He can just do it. He can, as it were, turn it on. And I suppose for him, it's also a bit of a turn-on -- the pure exercise of power is what he's all about. That's the only thing he's interested in and the only thing that can satisfy him -- which makes him completely fascinating to play, because it is an evil soul."

"To have been chosen when you're in your thirties to play someone who's 120, and then to find when you were in your early fifties you were going to play the same character at your then-age, that is, in your early fifties, in fact I don't think I've come out of the trauma. But the interesting think about that it's an absolutely unique challenge for an actor; I can't think of anyone who's been asked to do that, or indeed been given the opportunity, and I'll always be grateful for that."

"Privilege is a made up metric used to silence and repress. We are all different, and that is ok. We listen to individuals and help each other based on individual strengths and needs. We do not generalize based on skin color, bigot."

"Imagine countless wiki editors all using each others work as basis for their own, reasoning what must be true from what they already assume is. Wouldn't that make for a weird reality?"

"Mansplaining is a sexist term designed to silence men via gender shaming."

"Selectively choosing what gets condemned and forcing people to join sides while hiding behind semantics is pure evil."

"David Eddings:‏ I'm afraid that ignorance, hate, racism, and violence will be exacerbated by silence. If speaking out is not an answer then what is? Markus Persson:‏ Reading up on history, thinking for yourself, and not being an idiot."

"Well, the truth is that although in the 1980s everyone in Poland was in favor of changes in the country or at the university, the path to these changes was seen differently by everyone. If I remembered one of the more turbulent meetings of the Kraków Medical Academy authorities (I was handling this meeting as a journalist) in the most tense time of Solidarity strikes, professor Ptak strongly protested that the proverbial cleaner or even the students would decide on the election of the rector."

"People spend unnecessarily high amounts of money on drugs or supplements that support immunity (for example, fashionable Japanese ginkgo – there is no evidence that it works), meanwhile they do more harm to themselves by their way of life, for example by inadequate diet."

"Stupefied parents must be persuaded that by not vaccinating their children, they harm these children and the entire society. Because, as a significant part of the society will not become resistant to a given pathogen, there is a chance that an epidemic will occur. Now, for example, measles returns. Completely harmless in the childhood (in my time all children went through it and nothing bad happened), it can lead to very serious complications in adult patients."

"Tadzik Gumiński (later a reader in pediatry), who was just like me fascinated by astronomy, lived at Szpitalna Street, and I lived at Garncarska Street. Not far from our homes, at Podwale, there was an optical store Maruńczak and the Company (in the place where the scientific bookstore is now located). In this optical store, as little kids, we bought lenses and other parts necessary to build a telescope. This telescope, of course, was very simple. But thanks to it, we spent many nights observing the sky, deciphering star systems. It was really great fun."

"My professional work connects with intellectual play, with great passion. But I like to read, I'm interested in philosophy, religion and history. And I love dogs! Now I have two friends that take me out for a walk every day."

"Jews are one of the few ethnic groups in which learning is equivalent to praising God. This brings results. One Jewish Nobel Prize winner, when asked where his passion for science came from, explained, that when his friends were returning home, they were asked what the teacher asked them during the day. The Nobel Prize winner mother asked him instead: „What did you ask the teacher today?”. He was taught to ask, not to prepare answers."

"Like many scientists, I believe that excessive hygienisation of life is responsible for the development of allergies. We avoid contact with microorganisms. Our children live in almost sterile conditions, we wash our hands every now and then. Our immune system hardly comes into contact with bacteria, but it is still in contact with other antigens. So, if the organism gets bored, these other antigens, completely harmless – a protein of milk, fish, or even strawberries – start to be treated as enemies."

"The Catholic Church has a lot of sins regarding health prevention. I still have a copy of a church magazine from 1905, that condemns the use of vaccines. Until recently, the Church believed that every illness is the result of God's decision. So if the disease attacked, it was necessary to accept it with dignity – as the judgment of the Supreme."

"My mother, whom I loved very much, had a trouble with me. I had very good school certificates. But I tormented her with horribly stinky collections. It was not enough for me at home to have a dog, a cat, a canary, a fish, and even a white mouse. A mouse loved to walk around the apartment, although it lived in a cage. I added the protozoa to this menagerie. Traditional definitions regarded these small organisms – such as, for example, amoebae, flagellates, sponges, algae – as single-celled. What was in these asexually reproducing animals or plants that could intrigue the little boy so much that he would permanently bring this muck (as the mother would say) home?! After all, neither the request nor the threat of this exceptionally tolerant woman, who carried out her home diligently on a daily basis, did help. A trip to the ponds, or actually to the morass at Bonarka district, were exciting for the little boy. And even more, he enjoyed the moments when he could watch what was happening in aquariums, jars or cages for hours."

"I have peasant origins. It manufactures hardness. One of my grandfathers was a peasant, the other one was a foreman in a cigarette factory. I trained my mind whole life. For example, I studied poems by heart, ranging from Mickiewicz to Mayakovsky. (in answer to the question of how he managed to stay active scientifically for so long)"

"I don't like to stay long outside of Kraków. I was always happy to go back there, just like a cat. Well, that's my mental structure."

"If we look at the highly specialized action of our immune system, we will appreciate into what a brilliant tool evolution has shaped us. Each of us has millions of cells that recognize and destroy foreign antigens. Of course, I mean a healthy, well-functioning immune system, because unfortunately – sometimes it fails."

"In my childhood, I had natural interests. I got a microscope from someone, I made a telescope myself – a very poor quality, but I could see the moon. First, I wanted to become an astronomer. I read books about astronomy by James Jeans. I even read Arthur S. Eddington, which I did not quite understand. On the other hand, Jan Dembowski's book Natural History of One Protozoan made a huge impression on me. I decided that I would go towards biology, that I would become a physician."

"I argued with Professor Julian Aleksandrowicz, because he used some therapeutic activities that I did not like, such as the debatable use of suppressive drugs. Once, I criticized him for that in public. I was already appointed a professor, when I had a nice conversation with Professor Aleksandrowicz. I started – „Sir, as a scientist...”. He interrupted me – „There are three categories of people involved in science. Scientists, they are the ones who take the test tubes, they pour something into them. There are scholars, like you. And finally, sir, there are thinkers.” Someone later pointed out that I did not answer him – „You are a thinker, sir.” Aleksandrowicz had something of a thinker in himself."

"I've never been a practicing physician. Except the time when I was called to the army and ordered to heal soldiers. Neither before nor after that did I deal with practical medicine. The more we enter the future, the more laboratory medicine becomes something different than practical medicine. The former one requires specialists of a different format than those who serve at the bedside. It also requires completely different skills. I research allergy, but my experimental animal is a mouse, not a human."

"Despite such an extensive knowledge, immunity is still a field full of secrets. It fascinates and pushes us to develop new research strategies. Sometimes it resembles a fight with an unknown, invisible enemy. Although lately, thanks to the modern technology, this „battlefield” has been quite well recognized."

"The task of immune cells is to recognize foreignness. And fight with it. An implanted foreign organ, or its fragment, is undoubtedly a foreign body. The immune system therefore begins to fight it. However, now immunopressives – and therefore immunosuppressants – are so effective that the rejection of transplants is inhibited."

"He was born in Kraków and decided to tie his scientific path with this city, although he would be welcome by the most prestigious universities in the world, as evidenced by the twenty-five years of romance with Yale University, where he was a visiting professor. In spite of his age (born in 1928) he does not slow down – he is still working scientifically, he publishes articles."

"At Yale, I initially continued research on the problems which I brought from Poland. Within a few months, I made five papers and then published them in the leading American and British magazines. They liked me, they came to the conclusion that Ptak is good and efficient. The head of the Department of Pathology was then Richard K. Gershon, would-be Nobel Prize winner, a Polish Jew in a third generation. He died of lung cancer in 1983, at the age of fifty. We were close friends; I spent the last months of his life with him. Sometimes, speaking with me, he joked: „You're too intelligent not to be Jewish.”"

"As for the number of people reluctant to me, I guess I fall in the national average. Maybe it's about talking openly what I think? For example, in 1980 an interview with several professors – including myself – was ran by the newspaper Dziennik Polski, very much against the then authorities. We've all been in favor of far-reaching changes, but each of us saw these changes differently. I am a nonbeliever. And there comes the „Solidarity” with holy masses and sprinkling corpses with holy water. I thought that policy of the University, beneficial to the „Solidarity”, was not always beneficial for the University itself. From time to time, friendly people try to affront me, even though I did not belong neither to the youth communist organization neither to the party, neither had I contacts with the communist Security Service. And generally I didn't have herd instincts."

"Contrary to what is often thought, excessive hygiene, staying in an antibacterial environment, does not necessarily lead to a better health. Sometimes it causes even health deterioration. Indirect proof may be that among rural children there are fewer allergic diseases than among urban children. This is because children in the countryside have contact with a lot more bacteria. In every respect, you can see that exaggeration is unhealthy."